


Tangled, Pt I

by 2raggedclaws



Category: Jack Taylor (TV)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-19
Updated: 2020-06-19
Packaged: 2021-03-04 06:27:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 846
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24809260
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/2raggedclaws/pseuds/2raggedclaws
Summary: From July 2, 2012 on LJ and Tumblr.Spoiler through The Pikemen .... I think? It's been a while since I watch the shows!
Relationships: Jack Taylor/Kate Noonan
Kudos: 5





	Tangled, Pt I

**Author's Note:**

> From July 2, 2012 on LJ and Tumblr.
> 
> Spoiler through The Pikemen .... I think? It's been a while since I watch the shows!

I.

“Noonan, if you value your career on the force, stay away from Jack Taylor.”

She’d replied “Yes, sir” and headed toward the locker room to prepare for duty. Yes, sir. It was what she was supposed to say. The only thing to say. But it sat in her gut like cold water. Like a punch you didn’t see coming. A New Year’s resolution you wanted to keep and dreaded all the same. “Yes, sir.” Never were two words more complicated.

Never had a relationship been this complicated.

Relationship. 

Shit. Is that how she was thinking about it now? That was trouble, and she knew it. 

He’d pushed her too far on the pikemen case. Had blinders on to everything except finding the truth. He’d run roughshod over her, over her career, over her twisted and conflicting loyalties.

And she’d prickled. Fought back. Said no. Sold him out, though the guilt had flooded her and she’d balked at the last moment. Trying to fulfill a duty to head and heart at the same time and almost, almost pulling it off. Guilt and, if she was being honest, fear. Fear of losing him. Fear of being on the outside of Jack Taylor’s attention. 

And that, that scared the crap out of her. 

It was the fear that had fed her anger. Anger at herself for feeling weak, and anger at Taylor for putting her there. 

Detective Kavanagh had borne the brunt of that and, in the end, had patched the rift between them. 

Patched, but not mended. 

All the conflicting, messy emotions that had swirled around them for months were now out in the open, and no amount of idle banter and casual drinking and Cody playing the fool was going to smooth that over. 

No. It had to be dealt with sooner or later. 

What was this, her and Jack. What did she want it to be? What was she willing to live with? 

What was she willing to pay?

So when she runs into him at the funeral for the Flood boy all of a sudden she’s angry at him. Angry enough to scream. 

Instead she avoids his gaze. Avoids his name. 

Goddamn him for not seeing who she is. Goddamn him for not seeing beyond what she can do for him. Goddam him for not seeing things for what they are.

Goddamn, Jack Taylor. Goddamn.

II.

Of course. 

Shit but he’d been an idiot. 

When she calls him Taylor he knows something’s off. 

When she tells him to fuck off it all snaps into focus. 

When she has to say it out loud, that her career is everything to her.

Of course. Jesus. 

The guards. What else is there? What on earth else is there for a smart, strong, young woman in Galway. Nursing? Not Noonan. Not bloody likely. Secretary for some lawyer or banker stuck here in a branch office until they can work their way to something, anything, that’s not Galway? She’d last fifteen minutes. 

That, or she’d last fifteen years and grow hard and brittle and the light in her eyes would dim. 

Christ. 

He takes a long look at her. Smiles at her with a warmth that’s genuine. 

Kate.

Alright Kate, alright. 

I get it.

I don’t know what I’m going to do about it yet, but I get it. 

III.

She’s done with him. Well and done.

And yet when Kavanagh invites her out her refusal is automatic. She’s busy. Not interested. 

Taken?

Surely not. 

Surely not.

Only ... there she is, two hours later at the Crane Bar to meet Jack. Drawn there like a fucking school girl with a crush. 

Not happy about it. Attempting to keep some distance. Ashamed of herself. But, well ... there. 

Hoping. 

And there he is, pushing her again. Asking for favours. Assuming she’ll bend the rules to help him.

Seeing what she can do, rather than who she is.

Goddamn you, Jack.

So she spells it out. That she’d put her whole life on the line for him in the past. That she wasn’t doing it again.

What she doesn’t spell out is why.

Why she did it in the first place. 

Why she won’t now.

IV.

She’s angry at him. Disappointed. Tired. 

She holds back now, and the warmth that had flooded from her is gone. She’s drawn. She doesn’t want to be here.

Yet she came when he called. Drove out to the stadium to meet him and shared what the guards knew. 

She bristled when he sassed her. When his smart alec mouth did what it did best. 

All of a sudden she was taking things personally? Was thin-skinned? It was like he’d slapped her. 

What was this?

She looked straight ahead, idly focused on Cody playing ball tricks as a way to avoid his gaze. He snuck a sideways glance.

God it was good to see her.

Underneath all the horror and dead children and the nightmare that was his mother’s childhood ... it was still good to see her. 

And then? Then she'd pulled out that fucking button. 

Jesus.


End file.
